Baldwin High School senior Julia Murray overcomes vision, hearing impairments

Graduating in the top 10% of your class is hard enough under any circumstances, let alone with the added challenges of being deaf/blind.

That hasn’t stopped Julia Murray of Whitehall, who is ranked 21 of 388 students in the graduating class at Baldwin High School.

The 18-year-old is a member of the National Honor Society and holds a weighted GPA of 4.3. She plans to attend Slippery Rock University to pursue a career in occupational therapy.

She also is active in sports and serves on the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Partnership for the DeafBlind.

In light of the challenges, Julia remains modest, giving others credit for her success.

“I feel like it was the norm for me, the challenge of having to adapt to the world around me when it wasn’t made for people with special needs like me,” she said. “My parents were 100% the big supporters in my life. They advocated for my needs – and whatever I needed, they were there to provide for me.”

She said many teachers also taught her ways to adapt to the world despite her hearing and vision loss, including being able to advocate for herself.

“There have been a lot of challenges, but to watch what has happened, it’s been so worth it,” said her mother, Liz Murray, an elementary school teacher in the Baldwin Whitehall School District. “It was obvious that she was really bright and determined from early on.”

Julia’s family also includes her father, Jeff, a designer with an engineering firm, and older siblings Allison, Alex and Zach, none of whom have vision or hearing impairments.

Julia was diagnosed with cone-rod dystrophy and bilateral sensorineural hearing loss as an infant.

“I hate to say she failed her newborn hearing test, but that’s what they say,” Liz said. “It just seemed bizarre – she was full-term, there were no complications. When you looked at her, she looked just like any newborn baby, like there was nothing wrong. But there were follow-ups and, every time, it showed that she was deaf.”

When Julia was about a month old, her parents also noticed that she had involuntary eye movements called nystagmus, which can indicate vision problems.

“I took her to the eye doctor, and that was the scariest part of the whole journey,” Liz said. “When there’s both deafness and blindness, they send you for an MRI the very next day. They aren’t saying it, but we’re thinking brain tumor or something like that. So that was the scariest part.”

Early intervention

Julia started receiving early intervention services at about 6 months, including vision, hearing, speech and physical therapies.

“We probably went to the doctor twice a week and she had four therapists that came to the house,” Liz said.

Julia also was fitted with hearing aids, but had a habit of pulling them out and throwing them. Her frustration also became apparent when she couldn’t communicate her needs, Liz said.

“When she was about 2 and had her first cochlear implant surgery, everything clicked and she just took off,” Liz said. “At 3, they implanted her other ear. By the time she’s 5, she’s telling us, ‘Yeah, I want to go to college.’”

Her parents enrolled their toddler in the DePaul School for Hearing and Speech in Pittsburgh, but by the time first grade rolled around, they thought she was ready for public school.

“DePaul and Baldwin Whitehall School Districts both did evaluations, and neither one of them felt like it was time for her to transition,” Liz said. “When they said that, both my husband and I said, ‘They don’t know her, and what is the worst thing that could happen? We’ll send her back to DePaul, right?’

“The bottom line was they didn’t know her like we do. At that point, we were like, she can do this and she’s gonna be fine.”

And she was.

“I started working with Julia when she started in Baldwin Whitehall School District in first grade, so this is our 12th year together,” said learning support teacher Lindsey Graney. “It has been career-changing for me to work with her. She is the hardest-working student I have ever worked with. She truly is exceptional in every sense of the word.”

Graney noted that Julia has taken advanced placement classes and did well on her SAT exams.

“She puts forth such effort in her academics,” Graney said. “She advocates for everything she needs and she never lets anything get in the way.”

Although she reads Braille, Julia also is able to read large print. White lettering on a black background works best, her mother said. There are spots in both her peripheral and straight-on vision. She is able to see muted colors, but can have trouble distinguishing between similar shades, like blue and green or pink and orange.

In school, she also works with a teacher for the visually impaired on orientation and mobility, and she also has an intervener who is “essentially her eyes and her ears in the classroom that gives her access to note-taking and things that she might not see or hear,” Graney said.

She also uses assistive technology, which is something she plans to explore further in college.

“One thing that I recently found out about is that (occupational therapists) can help with technology,” Julia said. “There’s a woman at (UPMC Presbyterian hospital) who works with people with low vision and she teaches them how to use assistive technology.

“I think that’s a pretty neat option. I might look into something like that.”

‘Just my life’

Outside of school, Julia likes to spend time with family and friends. She participates in ENVISION Blind Sports, an adaptive recreational program that offers various sports for people who are blind and visually impaired. She has played basketball, soccer and tennis and learned to ski with the group. She also plays blind hockey with the Pittsburgh Rhinos.

“Skiing, that’s one of my ‘don’t tell me your kid can’t do something’ stories,” Liz said. “My husband and I tried for a couple of years to teach her to ski, and he said, ‘I don’t think she can do it.’”

One day at Peek’n Peak Resort in New York, they left her in the hands of ENVISION founder Wendy Fagan.

“We left for half an hour, and Julia’s literally skiing down the hill with an instructor skiing backward in front of her, turning the tips of her skis,” Liz said. “She’s coming down the hill. So don’t ever feel like they can’t do something, because they’ll prove you wrong. She proved us wrong that day.”

It took a while, but it was worth it, Julia said: “I just love flying down the hill.”

Even with her daughter’s can-do attitude, Liz said it’s a little daunting to think of sending her off to college — although meeting with Natalie Burick, director of Slippery Rock’s Office of Disability Services, allayed some fears.

“She could not have said more perfect words for me to feel like this is where Julia should be,” Liz said. “She said, ‘If someone can’t help her, I will go help her.’ She’s that invested in her.”

It helps to think of disabilities as challenges, not obstacles, Julia said.

“I see it more as a challenge to become stronger and find ways around it. I think it really has helped me personally, made me a stronger person,” she said. “It’s not just helping me, but advocating for access. It’s not just for me, it’s also for a whole community of people who have a disability.”

“She inspires so many people, but she gets mad when you say that,” Liz said. “She says, ‘Oh, it’s just my life, mom.’ She doesn’t understand what she’s shown other people.

“It’s been a real pleasure to be her mom. I feel lucky that I got picked.”